Mental rotation is supported by block play in boys and girls

[en] Mental rotation in adults can be supported by spatial activities and shows sex differences in favor of males. Yet, whether these results apply to young children and whether possible early sex differences in mental rotation might be alleviated through spatial play remains unclear. Thus, we investigated whether play with different levels of guidance (high guidance vs. medium guidance vs. low guidance) would affect girls' and boys' mental rotation in a sample of 183 German 5- and 6-year-olds. Any play form fostered children's mental rotation. However, girls profited less from high guidance than boys. Play can foster mental rotation, but different levels of guidance seem to have differential effects on girls and boys.

Disciplines :

Education & instruction

Author, co-author :

WEBER, Anke Maria ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (DBCS) > Cognitive Science and Assessment

BOBROWICZ, Katarzyna ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (DBCS) > Cognitive Science and Assessment

GREIFF, Samuel ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (DBCS) > Cognitive Science and Assessment

Leuchter, Miriam

External co-authors :

yes

Language :

English

Title :

Mental rotation is supported by block play in boys and girls

Publication date :

March 2024

Journal title :

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

ISSN :

0193-3973

eISSN :

1873-7900

Publisher :

Elsevier BV

Volume :

Pages :

101630

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Focus Area :

Educational Sciences

Development Goals :

5. Gender equality

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S019339732300120X?httpAccept=text/xml

Funders :

German Research Foundation

Funding number :

290497409

Available on ORBilu :

since 15 January 2024

Statistics

Number of views

17 (3 by Unilu)

Number of downloads

0 (0 by Unilu)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

Bibliography

Alfieri, L., Brooks, P.J., Aldrich, N.J., Tenenbaum, H.R., Does discovery-based instruction enhance learning?. Journal of Educational Psychology 103:1 (2011), 1–18, 10.1037/a0021017.
Borriello, G.A., Liben, L.S., Encouraging maternal guidance of preschoolers’ spatial thinking during block play. Child Development 89:4 (2018), 1209–1222, 10.1111/cdev.12779.
Cai, L., Luo, J., Zhang, H., Ying, J., The development of spatial representation through teaching block-building in kindergartners. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2020, 565723, 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.565723.
Casasola, M., Wei, W.S., Suh, D.D., Donskoy, P., Ransom, A., Children's exposure to spatial language promotes their spatial thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 149:6 (2020), 1116–1136, 10.1037/xge0000699.
Casey, B.M., Andrews, N., Schindler, H., Kersh, J.E., Samper, A., Copley, J., The development of spatial skills through interventions involving block building activities. Cognition and Instruction 26:3 (2008), 269–309, 10.1080/07370000802177177.
Danniels, E., Pyle, A., Defining play-based learning. Pyle, A., (eds.) Play-based learning, 2018, Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development and the Strategic Knowledge Cluster on Early Child Development, 8–13.
Desouza, J.M.S., Czerniak, C.M., Social behaviors and gender differences among preschoolers: Implications for science activities. Journal of Research in Childhood Education 16:2 (2002), 175–188, 10.1080/02568540209594983.
Dunn, L.M., Dunn, D.M., Lenhard, A., Lenhard, W., Segerer, R., Suggate, S., PPVT 4. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Pearson Assessment. 2015.
Early, D.M., Iruka, I.U., Ritchie, S., Barbarin, O.A., Winn, D.-M.C., Crawford, G.M., Pianta, R.C., How do pre-kindergarteners spend their time? Gender, ethnicity, and income as predictors of experiences in pre-kindergarten classrooms. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 25:2 (2010), 177–193, 10.1016/j.ecresq.2009.10.003.
Fernández-Méndez, L.M., Contreras, M.J., Elosúa, M.R., From what age is mental rotation training effective? Differences in preschool age but not in sex. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2018, 753, 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00753.
Ferrara, K., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Newcombe, N.S., Golinkoff, R.M., Lam, W.S., Block talk: Spatial language during block play. Mind, Brain, and Education 5:3 (2011), 143–151, 10.1111/j.1751-228X.2011.01122.x.
Fisher, K.R., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Newcombe, N., Golinkoff, R.M., Taking shape: Supporting preschoolers’ acquisition of geometric knowledge through guided play. Child Development 84:6 (2013), 1872–1878, 10.1111/cdev.12091.
Freeman, N.K., Preschoolers’ perceptions of gender appropriate toys and their parents’ beliefs about genderized behaviors: Miscommunication, mixed messages, or hidden truths?. Early Childhood Education Journal 34:5 (2007), 357–366, 10.1007/s10643-006-0123-x.
Frick, A., Ferrara, K., Newcombe, N.S., Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age. Cognitive Processing 14:2 (2013), 117–127, 10.1007/s10339-012-0534-0.
Frick, A., Hansen, M.A., Newcombe, N.S., Development of mental rotation in 3- to 5-year-old children. Cognitive Development 28:4 (2013), 386–399, 10.1016/j.cogdev.2013.06.002.
Frick, A., Möhring, W., Mental object rotation and motor development in 8- and 10-month-old infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 115:4 (2013), 708–720, 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.04.001.
Frick, A., Möhring, W., Newcombe, N.S., Development of mental transformation abilities. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 18:10 (2014), 536–542, 10.1016/j.tics.2014.05.011.
Geer, E.A., Quinn, J.M., Ganley, C.M., Relations between spatial skills and math performance in elementary school children: A longitudinal investigation. Developmental Psychology 55:3 (2019), 637–652, 10.1037/dev0000649.
Geiser, C., Lehmann, W., Eid, M., A note on sex differences in mental rotation in different age groups. Intelligence 36:6 (2008), 556–563, 10.1016/j.intell.2007.12.003.
Hespos, S.J., Rochat, P., Dynamic mental representation in infancy: Portions of this research have been presented at the international conference on infant studies, Society for Research in child development, and Association for Research in vision and Opthamology.1. Cognition 64:2 (1997), 153–188, 10.1016/S0010-0277(97)00029-2.
Hsin, C.-T., Wu, H.-K., Using scaffolding strategies to promote young children's scientific understandings of floating and sinking. Journal of Science Education and Technology 20:5 (2011), 656–666, 10.1007/s10956-011-9310-7.
Jirout, J.J., Newcombe, N.S., Building blocks for developing spatial skills: Evidence from a large, representative U.S. Sample. Psychological Science 26:3 (2015), 302–310, 10.1177/0956797614563338.
Klahr, D., Zimmerman, C., Jirout, J., Educational interventions to advance children's scientific thinking. Science 333:6045 (2011), 971–975, 10.1126/science.1204528.
Krist, H., Development of intuitions about support beyond infancy. Developmental Psychology 46:1 (2010), 266–278, 10.1037/a0018040.
Lauer, J.E., Yhang, E., Lourenco, S.F., The development of gender differences in spatial reasoning: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin 145:6 (2019), 537–565, 10.1037/bul0000191.
Leuchter, M., Naber, B., Studying children's knowledge base of one-sided levers as force amplifiers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 56:1 (2019), 91–112, 10.1002/tea.21470.
Li, H., Sun, J., Zhang, X., Editorial: Multidisciplinary approaches to understanding early development of spatial skills: Advances in linguistic, behavioral, and neuroimaging studies. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 2021, 666382, 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666382.
Mix, K.S., Levine, S.C., Cheng, Y.-L., Young, C.J., Hambrick, D.Z., Konstantopoulos, S., The latent structure of spatial skills and mathematics: A replication of the two-factor model. Journal of Cognition and Development 18:4 (2017), 465–492, 10.1080/15248372.2017.1346658.
Moè, A., Effects of group gender composition on mental rotation test performance in women. Archives of Sexual Behavior 47:8 (2018), 2299–2305, 10.1007/s10508-018-1245-0.
Möhring, W., Frick, A., Touching up mental rotation: Effects of manual experience on 6-month-old infants' mental object rotation. Child Development 84:5 (2013), 1554–1565, 10.1111/cdev.12065.
Moore, D.S., Johnson, S.P., Mental rotation in human infants: A sex difference. Psychological Science 19:11 (2008), 1063–1066, 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02200.x.
Moore, D.S., Johnson, S.P., Mental rotation of dynamic, three-dimensional stimuli by 3-month-old infants. Infancy : The Official Journal of the International Society on Infant Studies 16:4 (2011), 435–445, 10.1111/j.1532-7078.2010.00058.x.
Newcombe, N.S., Booth, J.L., Gunderson, E.A., Spatial skills, reasoning, and mathematics. Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K.A., (eds.) The Cambridge handbook of cognition and education, 2019, Cambridge University Press, 100–123.
Newcombe, N.S., Frick, A., Early education for spatial intelligence: Why, what, and how. Mind, Brain, and Education 4:3 (2010), 102–111, 10.1111/j.1751-228X.2010.01089.x.
Newcombe, N.S., Shipley, T.F., Thinking about spatial thinking: New typology, new assessments. Gero, J.S., (eds.) Studying visual and spatial reasoning for design creativity, 2015, Springer, 179–192.
Newcombe, N.S., Uttal, D., H., & Sauter, M., Spatial development. Zelazo, P.D., (eds.) The Oxford handbook of developmental psychology: Vol. 1: Body and mind (pp. 564–590), 2013, Oxford Univ. Press.
Pellegrini, A.D., Play. Zelazo, P.D., (eds.) The Oxford handbook of developmental psychology: Vol 2: Self and other, 2013, Oxford Univ. Press, 276–299.
Plöger, I., Statik als Lerngegenstand im Übergang von kindergarten zur Grundschule [statics as a learning opportunity at the transition from kindergarten to primary school]. 2020, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau.
van de Pol, J., Volman, M., Beishuizen, J., Scaffolding in teacher–student interaction: A decade of research. Educational Psychology Review 22:3 (2010), 271–296, 10.1007/s10648-010-9127-6.
Pruden, S.M., Levine, S.C., Huttenlocher, J., Children's spatial thinking: Does talk about the spatial world matter?. Developmental Science 14:6 (2011), 1417–1430, 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01088.x.
Quaiser-Pohl, C., The mental cutting test “Schnitte” and the picture rotation test—Two new measures to assess spatial ability. International Journal of Testing 3:3 (2003), 219–231.
Quaiser-Pohl, C., Rohe, A.M., Amberger, T., The solution strategy as an indicator of the developmental stage of preschool children's mental-rotation ability. Journal of Individual Differences 31:2 (2010), 95–100, 10.1027/1614-0001/a000017.
Quinn, P.C., Liben, L.S., A sex difference in mental rotation in young infants. Psychological Science 19:11 (2008), 1067–1070.
Quinn, P.C., Liben, L.S., A sex difference in mental rotation in infants: Convergent evidence. Infancy 19:1 (2014), 103–116, 10.1111/infa.12033.
R Core Team, R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing (Version 4.3.1) [Computer software]. Vienna, Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/, 2023.
Richey, J.E., Nokes-Malach, T.J., How much is too much? Learning and motivation effects of adding instructional explanations to worked examples. Learning and Instruction 25 (2013), 104–124, 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2012.11.006.
Rochat, P., Hespos, S.J., Tracking and anticipation of invisible spatial transformations by 4- to 8-month-old infants. Cognitive Development 11:1 (1996), 3–17, 10.1016/S0885-2014(96)90025-8.
Rubin, K.H., Fein, G.G., Vandenberg, B., Play. Hetherington, E.M., (eds.) Handbook of child psychology, 1983, Wiley, 693–774.
Ruble, D.N., Martin, C.L., Berenbaum, S.A., Gender development. Damon, W., Lerner, R.M., Eisenberg, N., (eds.) Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3 social, emotional, and personality development, 2006, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 858–932.
Seo, K.-H., Ginsburg, H.P., What is developmentally appropriate in early childhood mathematics education? Lessons from new research. Clements, D.H., (eds.) Studies in mathematical thinking and learning Ser. Engaging young children in mathematics: Standards for early childhood mathematics education, 2003, Taylor & Francis Group, 91–104.
Shepard, R.N., Metzler, J., Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science (New York, N.Y.) 171:3972 (1971), 701–703, 10.1126/science.171.3972.701.
Singer, J.D., Willett, J.B., Applied longitudinal data analysis: Modelling change and event occurence. 2003, Oxford Univ. Press.
Stieff, M., Origenes, A., DeSutter, D., Lira, M., Banevicius, L., Tabang, D., Cabel, G., Operational constraints on the mental rotation of STEM representations. Journal of Educational Psychology 110:8 (2018), 1160–1174, 10.1037/edu0000258.
Tachibana, R., Namba, Y., Noguchi, Y., Two speed factors of visual recognition independently correlated with fluid intelligence. PLoS One, 9(5), 2014, e97429, 10.1371/journal.pone.0097429.
Terlecki, M.S., Newcombe, N.S., Little, M., Durable and generalized effects of spatial experience on mental rotation: Gender differences in growth patterns. Applied Cognitive Psychology 22:7 (2008), 996–1013, 10.1002/acp.1420.
Thomson, D., Casey, B.M., Lombardi, C.M., Nguyen, H.N., Quality of fathers’ spatial concept support during block building predicts their daughters’ early math skills – But not their sons. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2018, 10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.07.008 Advance online publication.
Tian, J., Ren, K., Newcombe, N.S., Weinraub, M., Vandell, D.L., Gunderson, E.A., Tracing the origins of the STEM gender gap: The contribution of childhood spatial skills. Developmental Science, e13302, 2022, 10.1111/desc.13302.
Trawick-Smith, J., Teacher-child play interactions to achieve learning outcomes. Pianta, R., (eds.) Handbook of early childhood education, 2012, Guilford Publications, 259–277.
Uttal, D.H., Cohen, C.A., Spatial thinking and STEM education. Hoss, B.R., (eds.) The psychology of learning and motivation, Vol. 57, 2012, Academic Press, 147–181, 10.1016/B978-0-12-394293-7.00004-2.
Uttal, D.H., Meadow, N.G., Tipton, E., Hand, L.L., Alden, A.R., Warren, C., Newcombe, N.S., The malleability of spatial skills: A meta-analysis of training studies. Psychological Bulletin 139:2 (2013), 352–402, 10.1037/a0028446.
Varriale, V., van der Molen, M.W., Pascalis, V., Mental rotation and fluid intelligence: A brain potential analysis. Intelligence 69 (2018), 146–157, 10.1016/j.intell.2018.05.007.
Verdine, B.N., Zimmermann, L., Foster, L., Marzouk, M.A., Golinkoff, R.M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Newcombe, N.S., Effects of geometric toy design on parent-child interactions and spatial language. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 46 (2019), 126–141, 10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.03.015.
Webb, R.M., Lubinski, D., Benbow, C.P., Spatial ability: A neglected dimension in talent searches for intellectually precocious youth. Journal of Educational Psychology 99:2 (2007), 397–420, 10.1037/0022-0663.99.2.397.
Weber, A.M., Leuchter, M., Fostering children's block building self-concepts and stability knowledge through construction play. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 80, 2022, 101400, 10.1016/j.appdev.2022.101400.
Weber, A.M., Reuter, T., Leuchter, M., The impact of a construction play on 5- to 6-year-old children's reasoning about balance relationships. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2020, 1737, 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01737.
Weisberg, D.S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R.M., Kittredge, A.K., Klahr, D., Guided play. Current Directions in Psychological Science 25:3 (2016), 177–182, 10.1177/0963721416645512.
Weisberg, D.S., Zosh, J.M., How guided play promotes early childhood learning. Pyle, A., (eds.) Play-based learning, 2018, Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development and the Strategic Knowledge Cluster on Early Child Development, 31–35.
Weiß, R.H., Osterland, J., CFT 1-R. 2013, Hogrefe.
Yang, J., Wu, D., Luo, J., Xie, S., Chang, C., Li, H., Neural correlates of mental rotation in preschoolers with high or low working memory capacity: An fNIRS study. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2020, 568382, 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568382.
Yang, W., Liu, H., Chen, N., Xu, P., Lin, X., Is early spatial skills training effective? A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2020, 1938, 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01938.
Zosh, J.M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Hopkins, E.J., Jensen, H., Liu, C., Neale, D., Whitebread, D., Accessing the inaccessible: Redefining play as a spectrum. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2018, 1124, 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01124.